The 12 stars of the Aries constellation have been stolen by the dark entity, Ziggurat! Then skies above Radaxian become chilly & pitch black. Only one of royal blood can retrieve them, & that's Alex Kidd, the little guy with big ears, a big heart, and a ENORMOUS taste for adventure!

Gameplay

The game is a highly addictive platformer with very surreal levels. Each level has their own strange inhabitants who will try to defeat you. However, like Wonder Boy, you have a vitality meter that decreases as you go through the worlds. You can refill them by collecting SC stars. You can also collect S stars for shots & J stars for higher jumps. You also have unlimited lives, but for each life you lose it shaves quite a bit off your vitality meter. Don't let the meter turn completely white or it's GAME OVER!

Graphics

The graphics are beatifully drawn with tons of bright colors and truly must've pushed the Sega Master System/Mark III to the limits. The level styles were lush and surrealistic to the max and you almost feel they are more surreal than the painting with the melted clocks. And let us not forget some of the rather strange locales of the worlds. Like on Toy World the boss is a trumpet-playing balloon bear, and on the World of Make-Believe there's Punk rockers that poop skulls out of their butt and on Monster World there's a hungry T-Rex waiting for you to ride that zip line into his mouth so he can eat you. In a nutshell, the graphics were waaaay ahead of its time.

Sound & Music

The music is amazing, with or without FM. And when you do play it with FM sound, you feel like you're actually playing the arcade version. The sounds are really crystal clear, just listen to whereas at the beginning of each level you here a voice clip saying "Find the Miracle Ball" or when you get hit Alex screams "AAAAAHH!". The sounds are top notch.

Controls

The controls are highly precise. You can tell they are because you can steer Alex's super high jumps with total ease. And when you take your thumb off the control pad he stops right then without slippage. Now is that precision and responsive controls or what?

Replay Value

Scores

It won't matter how many times you beat the game or if you can no longer beat your highest score, this game is so dang addictive that you'll always come back for more adventures with everyone's favorite crown prince of Aries the Miracle World!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Conclusion

If you haven't ever played this game before, then your missing gaming at its finest. If you see this game on eBay, your local retro game retailer, or anywhere else, snag it immeadiately! You'll be eternally glad if you do and deeply saddened if ya do not. It dosen't matter if you're 15 like me, a newborn, or old & gray, I recommend this game for everyone!